County schools ready for football sectional semifinalis

Sunday

Nov 13, 2016 at 12:01 AMNov 13, 2016 at 7:30 PM

John Lewis @JohnLewis19

There are five county teams still alive in the sectional playoffs and four of them will be involved in two vs. three games.

Burlington Township and Rancocas Valley are second seeds, in their respective brackets. The Falcons will host third-seeded Delsea, a four-time defending champ, in South Jersey Group 3, while the Red Devils entertain Millville in South 5.

Burlington Township's 35-0 win over Pemberton on Friday was its fourth shutout of the season. That's the most the Falcons have had since 1976, when they also posted four shutouts. The Falcons won a sectional championship that year.

The Falcons' starting defense hasn't allowed a touchdown in 26 quarters. Trenton scored on an interception return. Pemberton and Hopewell Valley scored on the Falcons' reserves. Lenape's Jojo Kellum has the last meaningful touchdown against the Township defense: a 31-yard run on Sept. 23.

Willingboro and Shawnee are third seeds, unless the state moves to correct its brackets.

Willingboro, which has held five of its last six opponents under 10 points, will be on the road at Cedar Creek next weekend. Shawnee, which, it has been determined, had more power points than Timber Creek, will be on the road against the Chargers.

That error is entirely correctable at this point. Don't be surprised if that site gets changed.

Lenape is the top seed in South Jersey Group 5 and will host fifth-seeded Highland next weekend. The Tartans beat fourth-seeded Cherry Hill West 30-8 in their playoff opener. Highland lost to Cherry Hill West by a similar score, 28-8, on Sept. 16.

Lenape is 9-0 for the first time in team history. The Indians' current nine-game win streak is their longest in team history.

Looking back (and forward)

There were two takeaways possible from Willingboro's 37-0 win over Holy Cross on Oct. 7.

One was absolutely true: The Chimeras are something special this year. Their win over Haddonfield on Friday night was their first in the playoffs since 2012. At 7-3, they already have more wins than any Willingboro team in the last six seasons.

One was absolutely not true: The Lancers didn't have something special going on.

Holy Cross picked itself up from that game, won its next four in a row and secured itself a spot in the Non-Public 2 playoffs. The Lancers didn't give a great account of themselves in Hammonton on Saturday, with six turnovers in a 48-0 loss against St. Joe's, but that doesn't diminish what they've done over the past month.

"(We have) a bunch of kids who could have went south," Holy Cross coach Frank Holmes said. "And they just refused, and turned our season around. At the end of the day — with the season ending today, I can go home with a smile on my face."

The Lancers were an adaptable team. If they needed to run it, they went to Tim Petrucelli and he responded with 130 carries for 791 yards and seven touchdowns.

Take that away, and you have to defend junior quarterback Jeff Undercuffler, who was 92-for-171 this season, for 1,455 yards and 10 touchdowns. Wideouts Miles Cook (27 catches, 593 yards, four TDs) and Jordan Baxter (24-392-3) gave him weapons out wide that are comparable to any around.

Saturday was a frustrating ending, but it wasn't really an ending — all of those players will be back next season. It's reason to be excited.

"I love this team," Undercuffler said. "Our family, our community, our friendship — the way we go out here and go to war with one another."

That's not going to change in the offseason. This team — which is better than it showed in a loss Saturday — will be better still next September.

Some consolation

County teams went 4-2 in 10th games. Winners were Bordentown, Burlington City, Northern Burlington and Riverside. The Blue Devils and Rams won road games. City ranged 60 miles to beat New Providence 12-10 while Riverside traveled 38 miles to defeat South Hunterdon 40-7. It's been four years since both those teams won on the same weekend — they both won 10th games Nov. 16, 2012.

The last time both won road games on the same weekend was Nov. 15, 2008. City won a 10th game at Mater Dei and the Rams won at South Hunterdon.

Maple Shade and Palmyra were the only county teams to fall short this weekend. Palmyra faced deficits of 14-0, 26-13 and 33-19 before it fell 33-26 to Highland Park.

Stat McNuggets

Cherokee had won at least one playoff game in three straight seasons, and six of the last nine. ... Palmyra's Taj Harris caught a 30-yard touchdown pass from Joe Smyth against Haddon Township on Oct. 29 and threw one to Smyth against Highland Park on Saturday. ... Bordentown has won five consecutive consolation games. ... A win for Florence over Riverside on Thanksgiving would be the 297th of coach Joe Frappolli's career. ... Pemberton has allowed 242 points this season. Burlington Township (77) and Allentown (67) combined to score 60 percent of them. ... Seneca has allowed 83 first-half points over the course of losing three of its past four games. The Golden Eagles allowed 42 over their first five games.

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